Reviews42 was started in 2010 by Neeraj Jain and Surjenu Kuila. After 10 years of working at companies such as Apple, Yahoo, RSA Securities and Aricent, the IIM graduates decided to create a community-based platform that would help consumers choose the right product for themselves.

The site allows consumers to review various products that a visitor to the site can browse through before taking a final decision on what to purchase and whom to purchase it from.

Currently, Reviews42 has 4,386 reviews for 6,388 products. According to Jain, the startup has developed only over a fifth of the final website they aspire to build, citing the need for more money.

"A business-toconsumer company requires more investment than a businessto-business company," he says. The company began the process of fundraising in August, 2011, which co-founder Kuila describes as "a long drawn and tiring affair".

To allay doubts of potential investors, the duo calculated the amount needed to keep Reviews42 running for a year and set milestones for the company.

They initially decided to seek a small amount of investment from independent investors, however after six months of searching they struck a deal with two venture capital firms.

In January 2012, Mumbai- based Blume Ventures and Ventureast from Chennai acquired a minority stake in the company.

However, the amount invested remains undisclosed. The investment has helped Reviews42 to expand from a website run by two individuals to a team of ten and also improve the quality of the site.

Jain expects the future challenges to revolve around collating information about millions of products and "giving value to customers by meeting their wide spectrum of requirements". The founders also believe that Indians are not in the habit of posting reviews. "We want to find a way to encourage people to write reviews," says Kuila.